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Video: Mubarak cracks down in Cairo

Closed captioning of: Mubarak cracks down in Cairo

>>>and good evening. once again from cairo, where today the atmosphere suddenly turned sour and toxic and is still disintegrating tonight, turning into a rock and
molotov cocktail
fight with open fires burning in front of the museum where 5,000 years of
egyptian history
is housed. it started unusually, the day did, with new groups of protesters in different clusters we hadn't seen before. it was readily apparent they were supporting
hosni mubarak
. it became clear later many of them were gangs of street thugs assembled for the occasion. some of them came in on horses, some of them came in on camels. and they were insurgents cutting through the lines of protesters who camped out and staked their home in the
city square
for days, making an inroad for the other side of this protest. tonight the
night air
is still on occasion crackling with gunfire from automatic weapons, small caliber and large. they have turned that
square
into an open human combat space. the number of injured starts conservative -- see a lot from the fight with the
light of day
. bordering on that
square
, not far from our location here tonight we can candidly smell the smoke from the fires here. our own
richard
engle has been covering it all day with us.
richard
, good evening.

>> reporter: good evening,
brian
. clashes are continuing between protesters and supporters of
president mubarak
. here in
tahrirsquare
, fires have broken out as the two sides exchanged
molotov cocktails
. for now it appears the protesters have the upper hand.
president mubarak
proved he will not go down without a fight. egypt ordered a crackdown against anti-government demonstrators, but not with troops, tanks or uniformed police. instead, it sent in goon squads disguised as supporters of
president mubarak
. it was immediately clear these were not demonstrators. thousands of
mubarak
supporters charged into cairo's
tahrirsquare
. the protesters unarmed were caught off guard by the
surprise attack
. the pro-
mubarak
demonstrators rushed the protesters on horseback. and with camels. the protesters fought back, ripping
mubarak
supporters out of their saddles. hand-to-hand fighting broke out. the protesters claim many of the pro-
mubarak
supporters were in fact policemen. some were reportedly caught carrying police i.d. others appear to have been the same enforcers
president mubarak
has often used to stuff ballot boxes and forge elections. this time
mubarak
used the mobs to save his presidency. by midday,
tahrirsquare
was a
front line
. the two sides battled with bricks, stones, even their fists. the
egyptian army
did not intervene. it fired
tear gas
and warning shots, but mostly just watched and appealed for calm. the goon squads also appeared to have orders to hunt journalists. they chased us down.

>>the clashes have started to spread outside of
tahrirsquare
. there is also a lot of angry people who are angry with journalists.

>> reporter: the government claims it didn't send any maubz to attack the protesters who want
mubarak
to leave the country, but that seems implausible and the protesters don't belief it. they arrived in coordinated groups and seemed to have a single mission to attack. they were using military-style tactics to seal off the
square
. the anti-government protesters are now trapped in the center of
tahrir
.
mubarak
supporters have moved in by the thousands to seal off all four corners of the
square
. they have been moving toward the center. that's where the heaviest clashes have been. we've seen
molotov cocktails
, and both sides are dropping firebombs from the rooftops onto the crowds below. in the darkness the two sides of
tahrir
and its
side streets
, using barricades to inch forward in the
square
, they fought with
molotov cocktails
, an all-out
street war
.
president mubarak
may have signalled the crackdown last night. in a televised speech, he said egyptians had to choose between chaos an stability. today
mubarak
's choice was clear. a crackdown disguised as a
counter protest
. protest leaders,
brian
, we have spoken to from the middle of that battle say they would rather die than surrender.
brian
.

>>now,
richard
, this turned on a dime. this went toxic so quickly today,e ' looking back i don't know if there was one moment, but looking back one day, it's, almost comical a piece of videotape we aired on the broadcast last night. you and i? walking through the plaza, we were given a cursory security check byc civilians. ! it was kind of an
open air
, boy and the atmosphere. people had set up ???businesses. now if we'd make that same walk we'd be in the middle of this urban combatqekd? zone. what did we witness today? what happened?

>>this will probably bow remembered as a turning point3
egyptian history
. if the protesters win, they believe8cca they will win egypt. if they lose, they say they will continue this fight and organize more protests.v-? it was relatively calm even in the morning today. there were a lot of families in the
square
. they wnin? planning on having a big demonstration and then suddenly starting just with the %?thousand, the pro-
mubarak
few m supporters arrived in a coordinated effort. # on buses some of them arrivedh and then throughout the day they were building and build and 8p their strength gre but now there aren't very many of the pro-government demonstrators still in the
square
and thewl protesters seem to be gaining ground and have broken out of that encirclement, that barricade that0hv @(t&h?hp &h&

Egyptians set off fireworks as they celebrate in Cairo’s Tahrir Square after President Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military.
(Khalil Hamra / AP)
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President Barack Obama makes a statement on the resignation of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in the Grand Foyer at the White House in Washington D.C.
(Carolyn Kaster / AP)
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Egyptians celebrate in Tahrir Square after President Hosni Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military on Friday. Egypt exploded with joy, tears, and relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV. Mubarak, who until the end seemed unable to grasp the depth of resentment over his three decades of authoritarian rule, finally resigned Friday.
(Khalil Hamra / AP)
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Protesters walk over a barricade after it was taken down to allow free entry to hundreds of thousands of Egyptians in Tahrir Square in Cairo February 11, 2011. A furious wave of protest finally swept Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak from power, sending a warning to autocrats across the Arab world and beyond.
(Yannis Behrakis / Reuters)
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A spokesman for Egypt's higher military council reads a statement titled “Communiqué No. 3” in this video still on Friday. Egypt's higher military council said it would announce measures for a transitional phase after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down.
(Reuters Tv / Reuters)
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Protesters celebrate inside Tahrir Square after the announcement of Mubarak's resignation in Cairo on Friday. A furious wave of protest finally swept Mubarak from power after 30 years of one-man rule, sparking jubilation in the streets.
(Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters)
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An Egyptian reacts in the street after President Hosni Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday, Feb. 11.
(Amr Nabil / AP)
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Egyptian soldiers celebrate with anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square on Friday. Cairo's streets exploded in joy when Mubarak stepped down after three-decades of autocratic rule and handed power to a junta of senior military commanders.
(Marco Longari / AFP - Getty Images)
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An Egyptian woman cries as she celebrates the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who handed control of the country to the military, Friday night, in Tahrir Square, Cairo.
(Tara Todras-whitehill / AP)
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Egyptian anti-government protesters celebrate minutes after the announcement on television of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday. Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had resigned.
(Khaled Elfiqi / EPA)
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Opposition protesters celebrate Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak's resignation, in Tahrir Square on Friday. President Mubarak bowed to pressure from the street and resigned, handing power to the army.
(Suhaib Salem / Reuters)
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A senior army officer salutes a crowd of cheering protesters at Tahrir square in Cairo.

Protesters stormed Cairo streets in a bid to drive Hosni Mubarak from power, even as the longtime president set the stage for a successor by naming his intelligence chief as his first-ever vice president.

The following are key players in the unfolding crisis.

Sources: The Associated Press, Reuters

Ex-president

Khaled Desouki
/
AFP - Getty Images

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak

Name: Hosni Mubarak

Age: 82

Role: Mubarak resigned as president and handed control to the military on Feb. 11, bowing down after a historic 18-day wave of pro-democracy demonstrations by hundreds of thousands. The former air force commander had ruled Egypt for 30 years as leader of the National Democratic Party.

Background: Mubarak was thrust into office when Islamists gunned down his predecessor Anwar Sadat at a military parade in 1981. He has long promoted peace abroad and on the domestic front he has kept a tight lid on political opposition. He has resisted any significant political change even under pressure from the United States. The U.S. has poured billions of dollars of military and other aid into Egypt since it became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel, signing a treaty in 1979.

Controversy: Mubarak won the first multicandidate presidential election in 2005 although the outcome was never in doubt and his main rival came in a distant second. Rights groups and observers said the election was marred by irregularities.

Personal note: There have been questions about his health after surgery in Germany last March.

Name: Omar Suleiman
Age: 74
Role: The intelligence chief and Mubarak confidant became Egypt's first vice president in three decades on Jan. 29. The move clearly set up a succession that would hand power to Suleiman and keep control of Egypt in the hands of military men.
Military man: He has been the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Services since 1993, a part in which he has played a prominent public role in diplomacy, including in Egypt's relations with Israel and the United States. In 1992 he headed the General Operations Authority in the Armed Forces and then became the director of the military intelligence unit before taking over EGIS. Suleiman took part in the war in Yemen in 1962 and the 1967 and 1973 wars against Israel.
Intel chief: Suleiman was in charge of the country's most important political security files, and was the mastermind behind the fragmentation of Islamist groups who led the uprising against the state in the 1990s.

New PM

Mohamed Abd El Ghany
/
Reuters

Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq.

Name: Ahmed Shafiq
Age: 69
Role: President Mubarak appointed Shafiq as prime minister on Jan. 29.
Background: A close associate of Mubarak, Shafiq has been minister of civil aviation since 2002. As minister of civil aviation, Shafiq has won a reputation for efficiency and administrative competence. He has supervised a successful modernization program at the state airline, EgyptAir, and improvements to the country's airports.
Former fighter pilot: Shafiq served as commander of the Egyptian air force between 1996 and 2002, a post Mubarak held before he became vice president of Egypt under former President Anwar Sadat.

Rival

John Macdougall
/
AFP - Getty Images

Mohamed ElBaradei

Name: Mohamed ElBaradei
Age: 68
Role: The Nobel Peace Prize winner joined demonstrators trying to oust Mubarak. ElBaradei has suggested he might run for president if democratic and constitutional change were implemented.
Atomic watchdog: ElBaradei joined the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1984 and served as its director-general in 1997. He transformed the IAEA into a body bold enough to take a stand on political issues relating to peace and proliferation, despite critics' belief that it was not its place. In 2005, ElBaradei and the IAEA were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He retired in 2009.
Law and diplomacy: He studied law, graduating from the University of Cairo and the New York University School of Law. He began his career in the Egyptian diplomatic service in 1964, working twice in the permanent missions of Egypt to the United Nations in New York and Geneva. He was in charge of political, legal and arms control issues. He was a special assistant to the Egyptian foreign minister and was a member of the team that negotiated the peace settlement with Israel at Camp David in 1978. He joined the United Nations two years later.
On Iraq: ElBaradei was outspoken on the lack of evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, which angered the Bush administration.

Name: Egyptian Armed Forces
Role: The army remains the most powerful institution in the nation, and whatever it does next will determine the future of the Arab world's most populous country. The military appeared to be going to great lengths to calm the country without appearing opposed to demonstrations.
Background: Egypt's 500,000-man army has long enjoyed the respect of citizens who perceive it as the country's least corrupt and most efficient public institution, particularly compared to a police force notorious for heavy handedness and corruption. It is touted as having defeated Israel in the 1973 Mideast War, and revered for that role.
Stabilizer: The military, for its part, sees itself as the guarantor of national stability and above the political fray, loyal to both the government and what it sees as the interests of the general population. The military has given Egypt all of its four presidents since the monarchy was toppled in 1952.
Provider: Although it has almost completely withdrawn from politics since 1952, the army has added to its strength by venturing into economic activity, playing a growing role in such key service industries as food production and construction. It stepped in in 2008 during an acute shortage of bread, Egypt's main stable, which it provided from its own bakeries. It has since opened outlets for basic food items sold as vastly discounted prices.

The Brotherhood

Asmaa Waguih
/
Reuters

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie

Name: Muslim Brotherhood
Role: The brotherhood is Egypt's largest and most organized political opposition movement. Banned in 1954 on charges of using violence, members returned to Egypt to show support in protests.
Background: The group said it has since denounced violence and expanded its international presence. It has participated in Egyptian elections as independents despite frequent crackdowns. It surprisingly won about 20 percent of the 454 seats in 2005 parliamentary elections and since then, authorities have jailed around 5,000 of its members. The group believes in Islamic rule.
New audience: The Muslim Brotherhood is the focus of a TV series, "Al-Gamaa," or "The Group," which centers on a 2009 court case in which members were accused of setting up a student militia.

Mubarak's son

Khaled El Fiqi
/
EPA

Gamal Mubarak

Name: Gamal Mubarak
Age: 47
Role: Served as secretary general of his father's National Democratic Party.
Background: The younger Mubarak spent 11 years working at Bank of America in Cairo and London, had gained considerable influence in government after his father appointed him head of the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) policy committee in 2002. Many Egyptians felt Mubarak was grooming Gamal as his successor. Before Gamal rose to prominence, speculation was rife in the 1990s that Mubarak wanted Alaa, Gamal's younger brother, to succeed him.